Method of producing a floating soap



- Patented Mar. 13, 1945 Charles W. Kelley, Duck-Hill, Miss.

No Drawing. Application June is, 1942.

Serial No. 441,124 a 1 Claim.

This invention relates. to a method of producing a soap which will float.

Various means have been utilized heretofore for the purpose of rendering cakes of soap buoyant, these means including the incorporation of air cells, large air spaces or chambers, cores of cork or other materials which will float, etc. Some of these known methods have required the use of special machinery and equipment while others have not been satisfactory because the methods of producing them have been complicated, impractical, uneconomical. Probably the most satisfactory method heretoforedevi'sed has been the incorporation of air in minute cells within the soap but this.has been objectionable because the soap easily softens and wears away and it has been impossible to embody the cells in a hardmilledsoap that is long lasting.

Many people prefer delicately perfumed milled soap for toilet purposes and if sucha soap could be made buoyant it would largely displace the softer unmilled floating soap now in use.

, An object of the, present invention is to produce from a perfumed milled soap a cake or bar which is buoyant, will not soften as rapidly as other buoyant kinds of soap, has the outward appearance of the ordinary bars of milled soap, has a finer texture; and smoother lather than the .ordinary floating .soap, and can be worn down thinly and evenly so as to reduce waste.

A further object is to provide ,a process adaptable to the production of kettle soap and framed soap so that the same will bebuoyant.

A further object is to, provide a process adaptable to the reworking of any mass of existing soap for the purpose of rendering it buoyant and-ime proving its quality. I

A still further object is to set up a physical 'tle boiling process, for example, or it may include the step of melting and boiling the soap at any time before or after saponiflcation or even after the soap has been placed on the market.

The method requires the. step of boiling the soap and adding thereto an amount of sodium bicarbonate either in powder form or mixed with a small amount of water. The ingredients are stirred while boiling after which the soap is crutched and plodded as usual. If preferred the .soap may be boiled and stirred while cooling or while being placed in-molds. The same process is followed in making any kind of a soap whether it is milled in the regular manner or pressed into molds for the ordinary type of laundry soap.

The amount of sodium bicarbonate employed varies according to the kind of soap being treated. The amount used is from one-quarter teaspoonful to one teaspoontul per pound of soap.

when the sodium bicarbonate is mixed with the soap, the acid content of the soap reacts with the sodium bicarbonate to generate gas which, in

turn, seeps through the mass and slowly forms minute cells throughout the structure of the mass.

This action does not change thequality or texture of the soap and, if the soap which has'been melted and boiled and then mixed with the sodium bicarbonate, has a perfume, the same perfume will be present after treatment.

What is claimed is: u The herein described method of converting a perfumed hard cake or milled soap containing an acid into a hard cake oi buoyant milled soap without appreciably changing the formula of the soap which includes the step of'reducing the soap to a fluid mass by bo lnl. adding thereto sodium bicarbonate, stirring the mixture to distribute the sodium bicarbonate throughout the mass, the disand chemical change in the material constituting.

the soap which results in an improvement in the quality as well as rendering it buoyant. v

Astill further object is to produce soap by a 'method which is simple and low in cost and requires little changein the accepted methods of producing any kind of laundry or toilet soap.

In carrying out the present invention the soap base is made in the usual manner as by the'kettribution and amount of sodium bicarbonate being such that its reaction with the acid will liberate minute portions of carbon dioxide scat- .tered throughout the mass to produce minute cells in sumcient quantity to render the cake bouyant, and cooling and shaping the mass I with the cells therein. I

CHARLES W. KELLEY. 

